Different name on degree certificate to the one signed up for

[KatyMac]

DD's friend signed up for a dual subject degree - double honours
& has graduated with a certificate saying single subject and nothing about double honours

They have paperwork talking about the dual subjects (& have studied 2) and the double honours & that's what their student loan and everything were for; but the certificate says single subject no double honours

The university are saying they can do 'nothing'

What, if anything, they can do to rectify this?

WTF? That is absurd. Of course they can do something. It's surely fraudulent not to.

Confusing thread title. I clicked on this thinking the "name" referred to th graduate's name.

Yes, sounds like a complete cockup and I have no idea why the uni says there's nothing they can do.

Could it be that your friend's DD didn't do all the required work/exams to gain the double honours and is too embarrassed to tell anyone. I've known similar happen before.....

Well apparently 'everyone will know it's the right course' & they have asked all the students on the course to see if they can change the course name but not everyone agreed

Does a "(double honours)" normally go on the degree certificate? the uni say it never does

The whole class are questioning it (I understand)

Sorry @CurlyhairedAssassin I should have said course name

Double check with their course leader that they’ve definitely completed all the mandatory units for that award, as documented on their transcript.
Ask Exams and Awards for a re-issue
Complain!

Also, which country is this? What do you mean by Double Honours? Is this an Oxbridge graduate, or do you mean it's a Joint Honours degree, which looks like Single Honours, wiht just one subject having been studied?

What I mean is, did the graduate do a Joint Honours degree and was expecting both subjects listed on the degree certificate, but instead, because of what's written on the certificate it looks like it could be a Single Honours degree in just the one subject?

It means joint honours in e.g. maths and economics. One degree, one classification shared between the two subjects. Not unusual. The university is being ridiculous if that's really the case.

Double honours doesn’t go on the degree certificate.

Sorry, I mean joint honours (which is what this is) doesn’t go on the certificate.

I did a Joint Honours degree - if that's what you mean - and my degree cert states Subject 1 and Subject 2. I think there was something in the programme specification though that stated that if you did 75%/25% in your final year, you would graduate as Single Hons in the 75% subject. This was in the 90s though.

Nothing needs rectifying. Joint honours doesn’t mean they’ve done two degrees’ worth of studying. They’ll have done 50% of modules from one subject and 50% from the other (or 60/40). It’s one full degree, not two.

So, “BA (Hons.) English and History” would be joint honours. But you don’t get joint honours written on the certificate.

If they studied two different subjects they should both be in the certificate. My PhD was printed wrongly and they redid it for me so it can be done!

So they've got 'BA Dance' and we're expecting 'BA Dance and Drama'? I assume it's validated by an external university? In which I'd imagine they hadn't got the joint course accredited, just the single...

Not dance @titchy academic study - which is why I'm out of my depth - I have asked the student your questions and for clarity

But as I understand it they studied "single subject" & "single subject 2 equally over 4 years and was expecting a certificate saying "subjects" & got one saying "subject".....but I'll check

DD graduated 2 years ago, thank goodness!

So is the issue that she eg did law and politics but the degree certificate only says law?

I suppose it depends on the proportion of each subject, maybe they only put both subjects on if it's 50-50? Was it 75% for one and 25% for the other?

If the course signed up for was law and politics and the right proportion of modules was studied then both law and politics should be listed. However, it won't say joint honours, it just says law and politics.

It can change over the course of the degree.

I signed up for a double honours in Music & Drama. Friends did major/Minor so their certificates said Music with Drama. But after my first year I decided to do mostly music modules and only a couple of drama ones so my final certificate just said Music rather than Music & Drama.

If it’s the Uni’s cock up then she should threaten legal action. In my experience universities are terrified at the prospect of going to court (hence the humongous amount of arse-covering that goes on).

I asked if it was OK to share - it was 50/50 2 languages
he was expecting 'Modern Languages' he got 'Modern Language'

If it's literally the 's' that's missing I wouldn't make a fuss at all tbh. The transcript will show the individual languages.

That said I'm astonished at anyone doing an MFL degree and not having the languages named, so if it is supposed to say BA French and German, but only says BA French, get that complaint in now, formally. The student union should be able to advise if it's not clear how.

Ok, given the update ... I do actually see the university's position now. It could really mess up job prospects if you'd done something like Maths and Economics and your degree just mentioned Maths, because employers would glance and assume you didn't fit the bill. But if it's two modern languages and the certificate says 'modern language,' the employer would still have to look further to find out what language it was, so you'd be fine.

IME it is fine to put a clarification on a CV in brackets. So I have a degree in medieval studies, but I always put (English and Art History) in brackets after it, so they can tell me apart from someone who did History and Archaeology or whatever. So they could put 'Modern Language (German and French)' and I don't think anyone would be confused about the degree certificate wording.

& if they advertise it one way then award something else

All the paperwork ssys one thing and the cert something else

Do you mean just the s is missing? Or one of the languages is missing?

Does it actually name the language e.g. 'French' when actually they studied 'French and Spanish' and they wanted it to say both or does it say 'Modern Language' but the actual language(s) is unspecified?

The first one I would not be at all happy about as it is misleading but saying Modern Language instead of Modern Languages would be ok as you would presumably produce your academic transcript for any jobs specifically needing Spanish.

Hi OP, I agree it’s odd and would suggest seeing if any advice on www.gov.uk/government/organisations/competition-and-markets-authority as HE is regulated and there can be heavy fines I believe if this is a case of mis advertising.